Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press in an interview Monday he was concerned that by visiting Moscow before traveling to Kyiv, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres could be vulnerable to falling into a Kremlin “trap” in the war.

“Many other foreign officials were trapped visiting Moscow and played around just to show the supremacy of Russian diplomacy and how great they are and how they dictate the world how to behave”, - he said.

Guterres “should focus primarily on one issue: evacuation of Mariupol”, Kuleba said, referring to the seaside city where an estimated 100,000 people are trapped while a contingent of Ukrainian fighters hold out against Russian forces in a steel mill where hundreds of civilians also are taking shelter.

“This is really something that the U.N. is capable to do. And if he demonstrates political will, character and integrity, I hope that will allow us to make one step forward”, - he said.